Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with abbreviations

What's "sunny purchase"?

amethysts — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:10:30 -0800

Is it OK to use the SUNY abbreviation when referring to State University of New York schools outside of the tri-state area/east coast? It's OK to write it out on a resume, but it sounds really clunky when someone asks you where you went to college. State University of New York Purchase College just has so many syllables and also sounds kind of pretentious.

I'm only asking because I have encountered people who don't know what SUNY means so I was wondering how other SUNY-ers handle it.

And what of petabytes? Will they simply be "pets"?

lucius — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:32:33 -0800

In the distant past the megabyte and gigabyte were honorable quantities of storage and we referred to them by their full names; now they are too familiar, and we call them "meg" and "gig." Has a common spoken abbreviation already emerged for the terabyte? Or must we wait until TBs are readily available in larger multiples before the linguistic hivemind of digital humanity collectively determines the spoken shorthand? Sysadmins and data center pros--you know best. What do you call 10,000,000,000,000 bytes?

Why did Quebec go to QC?

Chrysostom — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:02:34 -0800

When (and why) did the postal abbreviation for Québec change from PQ to QC? Was PQ too closely associated with the Parti Québécois? Newfoundland also changed from NF to NL, I believe, but I think that was related to the official change of the name of the province to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001.

Web Slang, How and Why?

amyms — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:35:32 -0800

Asking for my son: How and why did web abbreviation and web slang evolve the way it did? Was it just a matter of common acceptance, or was something bigger at work? For instance: some people will type "ROFLMAO" meaning "Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Ass Off" but a more common expression is ROFL (Rolling On the Floor Laughing) or the most common LOL (Laughing Out Loud).

And, how did "owned" become "pwned"?

What does 'LCM' stand for in Kellogg's LCMs?

obiwanwasabi — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:34:02 -0800

Australia has its own version of Rice Krispie Squares - Kellogg's LCMs®. What does LCM stand for?

Why is Columbus not CLB?

brad! — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:40:49 -0800

Why is the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team often abbreviated as "CBJ"? While ESPN.com uses CLS, and CBS SportsLine chooses CLB, most television tickers use CBJ, as does SportsCenter for all of its graphics, and many newspapers, too. I understand Colorado may already stake claim to COL, but I don't understand why there is no standard for Columbus, or why the team name would ever be used for an abbreviation over CLB or CLS.

Pluralisation of acronyms and abbrevations?

PuGZ — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 16:00:32 -0800

How does one correctly pluralise an acronym or an abbreviation? How does one specify an acronym's ownership? How should one go about specifying the ownership of a collection of acronyms? Is compact discs shortened to CDs or CD's? Is compact disc's shortened to CD's? Is compact discs' shortened to CDs'?

I've been debating this with friends and while opinions would certainly be appreciated, definitive sources would be perfect! Thankyou MeFites!

I know what wtf means, but wtf?

longsleeves — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:58:28 -0800

Is there anywhere a FAQ or tutorial to help newer people such as me with understanding short-hand terms such as "FARK", or what's the difference between "funny" and "teh funny"? I've spent some time here and elsewhere and have figured out some terms, but others elude (exclude?) me.

et al

Dick Paris — Fri, 24 Sep 2004 08:03:47 -0800

I often use et al when making notes to list people for meetings. What would or could or should one use as a shorthand when listing a series of places? E.g. "I am traveling to Guadeloupe et ___ (other surrounding islands) or "Tyson's Corner et ____ (other surrounding suburbs).

Does anyone know of a glossary of degree abbreviations and titles?

Mossy — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 01:57:29 -0800

In dealing with academia, I often meet people with a bewildering array of letters after their name. Does anyone know of a glossary extant of what these all mean? At the moment I'm trying to puzzle out what FBA means - any clues?